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Soon after the strike that caused major flight disruptions was called off, Tata-owned airline said operations of Air India Express slowly started improving on Friday as more cabin crew members are joining back for duty. The strike by a section of the cabin crew since Tuesday night that resulted in the cancellation of more than 170 flights was called off on Thursday evening and the airline also withdrew termination letters issued to 25 striking cabin crew. The Tata Group airline, which operates around 380 flights daily, has curtailed operations in the wake of the strike and the official on Friday said, normalcy is expected in the next two days. Cabin crew calls off strike:Air India Express cabin crew on Thursday decided to withdraw their strike and the airline agreed to reinstate 25 staff who were terminated from service. A section of the cabin crew started reporting sick from Tuesday night to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline, forcing cancellation of more than 170 flights and impacting thousands of passengers at various airports.The decisions to end the strike and withdraw the termination letters were agreed upon during a conciliation meeting between the representatives of cabin crew and the airline management at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital on Thursday.The meeting, which went on for nearly five hours, was between representatives of Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) and airline management. The union is affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an associate of the RSS.Both parties will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28. After detailed discussions, persuasion and on appeal of the Conciliation Officer and the Chief Labour Commissioner, the union representatives agreed that "all the cabin crew members who have reported sick will report for duty with fitness certificate immediately, according to a document signed by the representatives of the union and the airline.On Thursday, the low budget carrier cancelled 85 flights or about 23 per cent of the total operational capacity due to cabin crew shortage and will be operating 283 flights. To minimise the disruptions, Air India is operating flights on 20 routes of Air India Express, which has curtailed services till May 13.On Wednesday, the civil aviation ministry sought a report from Air India Express on the cancellation of flights and also asked the airline to resolve the issues promptly.Why were crew members unhappy with Tata?Discontent has been brewing among a section of staff at Air India Express after the start of the process to merger AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. A section of the cabin crew has alleged mismanagement and lack of equality in the treatment of staff. A conciliation process is happening under the Industrial Disputes Act after a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew had filed a complaint before the labour department last year.Room sharing, lack of proper support, revised salary structure and alleged differential treatment of experienced crew members of Air India Express are among the issues being flagged by the striking cabin crew.In a message to the airline's staff, Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh on Wednesday said since last evening, more than 100 cabin crew members have reported sick prior to their rostered flight duty, "at the last minute, severely disrupting our operations"."The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules," Singh had said.Air India Express cabin crew's strike came a month after Tata Group full-service carrier Vistara witnessed pilot woes, forcing it to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 per cent, or 25-30 flights daily.As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.(with agency inputs)

Brokerages remain bullish on State Bank of India(SBI) after the lender made a swift recovery in earnings reporting a standalone net profit of Rs 20,698 crore in Q4, up 24% YoY. The estimates on the target price for SBI go as high as Rs 1,000.The profit was higher than the Street estimate of Rs 16,695 crore.Here’s what brokerages say:NomuraGlobal brokerage firm Nomura mentioned that the PSU lender gave an all-round strong performance. While lower opex in Q4 was aided by lower wage revision, the LDR stood at 75%, still the lowest among large banks with substantial room to expand. The management also expects the opex ratios to trend lower going forward.Nomura has retained its ‘buy’ rating for SBI with a target price of Rs 1,000.JP MorganJP Morgan states that SBI’s FY24 print shows that the growth and ROE gap with the private banks has closed out and that they foresee a similar dynamic in the coming year as well. The brokerage firm also believes that SBI’s positioning is enviable with the growth pick up in corporate loans, low pressure on opex and a favourable asset quality environment.“Despite potentially lower recovery income in FY25, we think the bank can continue to print 1%+ ROA,” added JP Morgan.JP Morgan has increased the target price to Rs 1,000 while maintaining a ‘buy’ view.NuvamaNuvama increased FY25/26 EPS by 14%/12% to factor in higher growth and NIM. With the RoA likely to stay above 1% and an RoE of 17% through FY26E, the brokerage firm lifted the target valuation to 1.5x from 1.3x. Given a low LDR, stable asset quality, write-back of 50bp to CET1 from new investment norms and strong outlook, they expect SBI to outperform.It reiterated ‘buy’ rating for SBI, with a target of Rs 950.Kotak Institutional EquitiesThe brokerage firm stated that the macro environment continues to be fairly stable for lenders and they see relatively stable performance from SBI. Even as they maintained SBI as a top pick, they emphasised that they don’t see a sharp outperformance from current levels. KIE valued the bank at 1.5X (adjusted) book and 10X FY2026E EPS for RoEs of 15%. The valuations are now closer to frontline private banks implying that the risk-reward has diminished even if the business is in a relatively strong position.KIE maintained a ‘buy’ rating with a revised target price of RS 950 from an earlier Rs 850.Motilal Oswal“SBIN has made a swift recovery in earnings, from a loss of ~INR65b in FY18 to profits of INR611b in FY24. We also note that the cumulative profit of the bank over the past three years (FY22-24) is equivalent to what the bank earned in the prior 20 years combined. We believe that SBIN is well positioned to deliver steady earnings, with FY26E RoA/RoE of 1.1%/18.5%,” stated a report by the brokerage firm.Motilal kept the rating unchanged as ‘buy’ with an increased target price of Rs 820.Emkay GlobalBuilding on the healthy NIMs/fees, treasury gains, lower opex, and contained LLP, Emkay Global estimates that a trend is likely across PSBs, more so in SBI, as they raised FY25-26E earnings 9-14%. The brokerage firm expects sustained strong RoA/RoE @1.1%/17-18%.“Though it claims it is comfortable funding growth in FY25, we believe the Bank would raise capital at >1x BV to fund its LT growth aspirations, given the favorable market conditions,” added Emkay Global.The domestic brokerage firm has raised its target for SBI to Rs 950 while retaining a ‘buy’ view on the stock.The shares of SBI were trading 1% higher at Rs 827 on BSE around 10 am.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)